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Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks 
Ma j. -Gen.  D.  H.  Hill 


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The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 


AN  ADDRESS 


Major-General- D.  H.  Hill, 

OF  NORTH  CAROLINA,      i*% 


BEFORE  THE  VIRGINIA  DIVISION  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION 
OF  THE  ARMY  OF   NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 


AT 


RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA, 

ON  THURSDAY  EVENING,  OCTOBER  22D,  1885. 


ALSO    SOME  ACCOUNT    OF   THE    BANQUET,  INCLUDING    THE 

RESPONSE  OF  THE  HON.  D.   B.   LUCAS,  OF   WEST 

VIRGINIA,  TO  THE  TOAST  "  OUR  DEAD." 


Published  by  Order  of  the  Association. 


RICHMOND : 

WM.  ELLIS    JONES,   BOOK  AND    JOB  PRINTER. 
1885. 


Association  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 

VIRGINIA   DIVISION. 


WM.  H.  F.  LEE,       -  President 

BRADLEY  T.  JOHNSON,  -  -  Vice-President 

RO.  S.  BOSHER,      -  Treasurer. 

CARLTON  MCCARTHY,    -  -  -  Secretary. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE: 
Col.  WM.  H.  PALMER,  Maj.  WALTER  K.  MARTIN, 

Maj.  THOS.  A.  BRANDER,         Maj.  ROBERT  STILES. 
Judge  GEO.  L.  CHRISTIAN, 

Rev.  J.  WM.  JONES,  D.  D.,       -  -         Chaplain. 


*)UbA^ 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 


AN  ADDRESS 


Major- General  D.  H.  Hill, 

OF  NORTH  CAROLINA, 

BEFORE  THE  VIRGINIA  DIVISION  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION 
OF  THE  ARMY  OF    NORTHERN  VIRGINIA, 

AT 

RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA, 

ON  THURSDAY   EVENING,  OCTOBER  22D,  1885. 


ALSO    SOME  ACCOUNT    OF    THE    BANQUET,  INCLUDING    THE 

RESPONSE   OF   THE   HON.  D.    B.    LUCAS,  OF   WEST 

VIRGINIA  TO  THE  TOAST  "OUR  DEAD." 


Published  by  Order  of  the  Association. 


RICHMOND: 

WM.   ELLIS    JONES,    BOOK   AND    JOB   PRINTER. 
1885. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/confederatesoldiOOhill 


Go  ^io. 7C 


THE  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  RANKS. 


AN   ADDRESS   ' 

BY 

Major-General  D.  H.  Hill,  C.  S.  A. 


OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 


General  Lee  introduced  as  orator  of  the  evening,  General  D.  H. 
Hill,  in  the  following  graceful  words,  which  were  heartily  applauded  : 

"  I  have  the  honor,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  introduce  to  you  as 
our  orator  of  the  evening  one  of  the  famous  Captains  of  the  gallant 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  whose  name  and  fame  is  interwoven 
with  its  history.  It  is  especially  pleasing  to  Virginians  to  greet  this 
distinguished  soldier,  not  only  on  account  of  his  own  great  merits, 
being  known  as  among  the  bravest  of  its  Generals,  but  also  because 
he  comes  from  our  sister  State  of  North  Carolina,  whose  gallant  sons 
poured  out  their  blood  so  freely  on  Virginia's  soil  in  defence  of  con- 
stitutional liberty." 

General  Hill  was  received  with  deafening  applause,  and  stood  for 
some  minutes  before  he  could  proceed. 

ADDRESS    OF    GENERAL    D.    H.    HILL. 

Soldiers  of  the  Army  of  Northern   Virginia, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  is  meet  and  proper  that  the  Association  of  the  veterans  of  the 
noblest,  truest  and  bravest  army  that  the  sun  ever  shone  upon,  should 
assemble  in  the  Capital  of  the  late  Confederacy.  It  is  eminently 
fitting,  too,  that  it  should  meet  in  the  Capital  of  Virginia,  since  its 
name  and  fame  are  inseparably  associated  with  three  illustrious  Vir- 
ginians.    It  was  a  Virginian  who  first  organized  it  and  sent  it  upon 


4  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

its  wonderful  career  of  victory ;  it  was  a  Virginian,  who,  at  its  head, 
held  at  bay  for  three  years  the  army  recruited  from  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  globe,  and  who,  with  ever-decreasing  forces,  fought  the 
world  in  arms;  it  was  a  Virginian,  who,  with  portions  of  this  famous 
army  made  those  stealthy  marches  to  the  rear  and  struck  those  ter- 
rible blows,  which  so  astonished  the  world.  We  remember  that  it 
was  a  Virginian,  whose  eloquence  most  fired  the  hearts  of  the  Colo- 
nists against  British  aggression  ;  that  it  was  a  Virginian,  who  moved 
in  that  Continental  Congress  for  a  declaration  of  independence;  that 
it  was  a  Virginian  who  wrote  that  declaration;  that  it  was  a  Vir- 
ginian, who  led  the  armies  of  the  rebellion  against  Great  Britain ; 
that  it  was  a  Virginian,  who  so  expounded  the  principles  of  the  Con- 
stitution as  to  make  that  instrument  acceptable  to  the  American  peo- 
ple ;  that  it  was  a  Virginian  who  presided  over  the  court  established 
under  that  Constitution  with  such  ability  and  impartiality  that  he  is 
to-day  regarded  as  the  wisest,  greatest  and  purest  of  the  Chief  Jus- 
tices of  the  United  States.  We  remember  with  great  pride  that  one- 
half  of  the  life  of  the  nation  from  Washington  to  Lincoln — thirty-six 
of  the  seventy-two  years — was  passed  under  the  administration  of  Vir- 
ginia Presidents.  We  remember  with  reverential  awe,  the  father  of 
his  country,  the  Virginia-born  Washington,  of  whom  Wellington 
said  that  he  was  the  grandest  and  sublimest,  and  yet  the  plainest  and 
simplest  character  in  history.  Concerning  whom  Byron  made  the 
pathetic  lament  that  the  earth  had  no  more  seed  to  produce  another 
like  unto  him. 

But,  though,  from  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  to  the  present  hour, 
proud  memories  and  glorious  traditions  cluster  around  the  beautiful 
women  and  illustrious  men  of  Virginia,  I  honestly  believe  that  the 
most  heroic  portion  of  her  history  is  from  1861  to  1865,  when  she  so 
grandly  bared  her  bosom  to  the  hostile  blow,  and  bore  with  such 
sublime  patience  the  desolation  of  her  soil  and  the  slaughter  of  the 
noblest  and  best  of  her  sons.  The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  ! 
So  let  it  be  !  Let  the  grand  old  State  and  the  grand  old  army  bear 
the  same  name,  and  may  their  fame  be  linked  together  forever  and 
forever ! 

Others  have  spoken  before  your  Association  of  the  great  battles 
and  the  great  leaders  of  the  civil  war.  Mine  be  the  grateful  task 
to  talk  of  the  unknown  and  unheralded  private  in  the  ranks.  The 
picture  of  him  rises  before  you  all — the  keen,  patient,  quizzical, 
devil-may-care  face,  the  brimless  slouch  hat,  the  fragment  of  a  coat, 
the  ragged  breeches,  the  raw-hide  shoes,  unless  some  lucky  find  on 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  5 

the  battlefield  had  given  better  foot-gear  (and  Johnny  always  was  par- 
ticular about  his  under-pinning).  When  he  had  his  trusty  rifle  and 
well-filled  cartridge  box,  he  considered  himself  splendidly  clad  with 
half  a  uniform  and  a  whole  pair  of  shoes.  He  was  self-reliant 
always,  obedient  when  he  chose  to  be,  impatient  of  drill  and  dis- 
cipline, critical  of  great  movements  and  small  movements,  the  con- 
duct of  the  highest  and  lowest  officers,  from  Mars  Robert  down  to 
the  new-fledged  lieutenant.  He  was  proud  of  his  regiment,  scornful 
of  odds,  uncomplaining  of  fatigue,  ungrumbling  at  short  rations, 
full  of  strange  drollery  and  mockery  at  suffering. 

Such  was  the  Confederate  soldier  between  '61  and  '62.  before 
battle  and  disease  had  swept  away  the  flower  of  the  Southern  youth. 
He  had  the  elan  of  the  Frenchman,  the  rollicking  humor  of  the 
Irishman,  the  steadfastness  of  the  Englishman  or  German,  and  the 
dogged  perseverance  of  the  Scotchman.  He  was  ready  to  charge  a 
battery  with  the  wild  Rebel  yell  or  to  receive  a  charge  with  the  im- 
perturbable calmness  of  Wellington's  veterans  at  Waterloo.  He  had 
the  best  characteristics  of  the  best  fighters  of  the  best  races  of  the 
whole  earth.  The  independence  of  a  country  life,  hunting,  fishing 
and  the  mastery  of  slaves,  gave  him  large  individuality  and  immense 
trust  in  himself.  Hence  he  was  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable  as  a 
scout  and  on  the  skirmish  line.  Of  the  shoulder-to-shoulder  courage, 
born  of  drill  and  discipline,  he  knew  nothing,  and  cared  less.  Hence, 
on  the  battlefield,  he  was  more  of  a  free  lance  than  a  machine.  Who- 
ever saw  a  Confederate  line  advancing  that  was  not  crooked  as  a 
ram's  horn?  Each  ragged  Rebel  yelling  on  his  own  hook  and  align- 
ing on  himself. 

But  there  is  as  much  need  of  the  machine-soldier  as  of  the  self- 
reliant  soldier,  and  the  concentrated  blow  is  always  the  most  effective 
blow.  The  erratic  effort  of  the  Confederate,  grand,  brilliant  and 
heroic  though  it  was,  yet  failed  to  achieve  the  maximum  result,  just 
because  it  was  erratic.  Moreover,  two  serious  evils  attended  that 
excessive  egotism  and  individuality,  which  came  to  the  Confederate 
through  his  training,  association  and  habits.  He  knew  when  a  move- 
ment was  false  and  a  position  was  untenable,  and  he  was  too  little  of 
a  machine  to  give  in  such  cases  that  whole-hearted  service  which 
might  have  redeemed  the  blunder.  The  other  evil  was  an  ever- 
growing one.  His  disregard  of  discipline  and  independence  of 
character  made  him  often  a  straggler,  and  the  fruit  of  many  a  victory 
was  lost  by  straggling.  I  believe  that  with  his  exalted  patriotism, 
his  high  sense  of  honor  and  his  devotion   to  duty,  the  Confederate 


6  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Banks. 

soldier  would   have  submitted  to  any  just  and  reasonable  discipline 
imposed  by  honest  and  intelligent  officers. 

But  too  many  of  these  officers  were  looking-  for  political  preferment 
after  the  war  to  permit  a  uniform  system  of  government  to  become 
practical  and  possible.  We  needed,  too,  what  our  enemies  had,  an 
old  army,  a  body  of  veterans,  as  a  model  of  obedience,  and  as  a 
nucleus  for  the  formation  of  other  troops  like  unto  themselves.  We 
needed  the  camps  of  instruction  which  our  enemies  had,  the  drill 
masters,  and  the  months  given  to  training  and  discipline  of  their 
recruits,  while  ours  had  of  necessity  to  be  hurried  to  the  front.  The 
South  had  rushed  into  the  war  absolutely  destitute  of  everything, 
save  the  courage  of  its  people,  which  makes  a  military  nation.  We 
had  no  foundries,  no  machine  shops,  no  factories,  no  powder  mills, 
no  roller  mills,  no  paper  mills,  no  means  of  making  tents  and  camp 
equipage.  The  paper  upon  which  the  ordinances  of  secession  of 
the  respective  States  were  written  came  from  the  North  ;  the  ink 
and  pens  with  which  they  were  written  came  from  the  North.  We 
had  no  iron  works  for  casting  cannon,  no  gun  factories  for  small 
arms,  no  establishments  to  manufacture  powder,  none  in  which  to 
make  caps  for  muskets  and  rifles.  Even  after  the  battle  of  Manas- 
sas the  question  of  returning  to  the  old  flint-lock  was  seriously  dis- 
cussed. The  spinningwheel  and  the  handloom  were  the  chief 
dependence  for  furnishing  clothing  to  the  troops.  The  country  tan- 
yard  and  the  country  cobbler  could  alone  furnish  them  with  shoes. 
There  was  not  in  all  the  South  a  factory  for  making  blankets  for  the 
soldiers,  who  had  to  endure  the  bitter  rigors  of  the  winter  in  the 
border  States.  We  had  no  ships  upon  the  ocean  to  draw  supplies 
from  abroad,  while  our  enemies  could  recruit  their  armies  and  their 
war  material  from  the  continents  of  the  whole  globe  and  from  the 
far  off  isles  of  the  sea.  From  first  to  last,  ours  was  the  worst  equip- 
ped, the  worst  fed,  the  worst  clothed,  and  the  worst  organized  army 
in  the  world  ;  that  of  our  enemy  was  the  best  equipped,  the  best 
organized,  the  best  cared  for,  and  the  most  pampered  army  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  It  is  the  grandest  tribute  that  mortal  man  can 
pay  to  our  soldiery  to  say  that  they  knew  of  the  tremendous  differ- 
ence between  their  condition  and  that  of  their  foes,  and  that  they  were 
contemptuous  of  it.  They  believed  that  their  courage,  their  fortitude, 
their  patience  and  their  devotion  to  duty,  would  more  than  make  up 
for  all  deficiencies  in  organization,  equipment,  material  and  numbers. 
I  will  give  some  examples  of  these  grand  characteristics.  On  the 
31st  May,  1862,  my  division  attacked  the  Federal  division  of  General 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  7 

Casey,  having  a  pentagonal  redoubt  in  which  were  ten  guns.  On 
each  side  of  the  redoubt  were  rifle-pits,  which  could  only  be  reached 
by  struggling  through  an  abattis  of  from  twenty  to  one  hundred 
yards  in  width.  Three  Federal  batteries  in  rear  had  a  murderous 
fire  upon  the  road  and  upon  all  the  approaches  to  the  works.  The 
recent  heavy  rains  had  made  the  ground  almost  a  quagmire.  But  on 
our  gallant  fellows  went  floundering  through  the  mud  and  slush, 
wading  through  water  three  and  four  feet  deep,  scarcely  able  to  ad- 
vance, had  there  been  no  foe  in  front.  But  they  were  mown  down  at 
every  step  by  cannon  shot,  shell,  grape  and  canister;  they  were 
mown  down  by  the  musketry  fire  of  men  calmly  awaiting  them  under 
the  protection  of  earthworks  and  obstructions.  On  and  on  went 
those  nameless  heroes  of  unrecorded  graves.  The  Fourth  North 
Carolina  regiment,  with  bloody  loss,  captured  a  section  of  artillery  in 
the  road  and  made  way  for  Carter's  battery,  which  came  up  to  the 
relief  of  our  struggling  infantry.  Now  began  that  awful,  that  wonder- 
ful contest  between  five  guns  sinking  almost  to  the  axle  at  every  fire 
against  sixteen  guns  in  position.  It  was  a  brief  artillery  duel,  for 
Couch's  division  was  coming  up  in  massive  columns  to  the  aid  of 
the  sorely  pressed  Casey,  and  by  my  own  express  order,  Carter 
turned  his  fire  upon  the  approaching  masses  of  infantry;  every  shell 
burst  in  the  right  place,  every  solid  shot  struck  in  the  right  place; 
the  ranks  broke  and  sought  shelter  in  the  woods  on  our  right  and  in 
the  abattis  on  our  left.  There  was  no  farther  advance  by  the  Federals 
up  the  Williamsburg  road  after  Carter  turned  his  guns  upon  their 
infantry.  All  this  time  the  sixteen  guns  were  remorselessly  pelting 
the  five  guns  of  the  King  William  artillery,  and  his  hitherto  untried 
men  weie  subjected  to  an  ordeal  which  few  veteran  artillerists  will 
stand,  that  of  receiving,  without  returning,  an  artillery  fire.  But 
there  was  no  flinching  with  these  splendid  fellows,  and  they  kept 
steadily  to  their  work  on  the  infantry  until  their  concealment  in  the 
brush  enabled  the  King  William  boys  to  give  tit  for  tat  to  the  artil- 
lerists in  blue.  But  relief  now  came  to  Carter's  men  for  a  time  at 
least;  the  advance  of  our  infantry  drove  Casey's  men  from  the  re- 
doubt and  the  rifle  pits,  cut  Couch's  division  in  two,  turned  part  of 
it  off  to  join  Sumner  and  sent  the  other  part  streaming  to  the  rear. 
The  fight  began  at  one  o'clock,  and  by  three  o'clock,  my  division, 
without  any  assistance  whatever,  had  captured  Casey's  camp  and 
earthworks,  had  taken  ten  pieces  of  artillery  and  two  hundred  pris- 
oners, and  had  defeated  or  checked  all  the  heavy  reinforcements  sent 
to  Casey,  at  least  two  divisions  of  succoring  forces.     And  now,  for 


8  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Banks. 

the  first  time,  our  exhausted  men  got  help.  The  Palmetto  Sharp- 
shooters, of  R.  H.  Anderson's  brigade,  Longstreet's  division,  under 
Colonel  Jenkins,  came  up.  Some  twenty  minutes  later  R.  H.  Ander- 
son reported  to  me  with  the  Fourth,  Fifth  and  Sixth  South  Caro- 
lina regiments.  Jenkins  had  gone  to  my  extreme  left,  and  there  the 
Twenty-seventh  Georgia,  of  my  division,  was  attached  to  his  regi- 
ment. Jenkins  and  Anderson  fought  their  way  through  the  abattis  in 
front  of  the  second  line  of  intrenchments  to  which  the  defeated  had 
retired,  captured  that  line  and  joining  their  forces,  held  a  brief  con- 
sultation. Anderson  took  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  South  Carolina 
regiments  with  him,  and  went  off  to  the  left  to  sweep  down  the  rail- 
road, giving  Jenkins  the  Sixth  South  Carolina  with  orders  to  follow 
up  the  dirt  road.  With  these  three  regiments,  Palmettos,  Sixth 
South  Carolina  and  Twenty-seventh  Georgia  (1,800  men  in  all), 
Jenkins  began  that  march  of  victory,  which  has  had  but  few  parallels 
in  history.  He  had  to  fight  Heintzleman's  corps,  minus  Berry's 
brigade,  and  such  fragments  of  Key's  corps  as  could  be  rallied. 
The  enemy  was  dazed,  bewildered  and  demoralized  by  Casey's  de- 
feat, so  that  the  reinforcements  did  not  fight  as  well  as  Casey's 
men  had  done.  One  of  Casey's  brigadiers  said  in  his  report,  that 
he  had  seen  Heintzleman's  men  break  when  they  had  hardly  felt  the 
Rebels. 

Everything  gave  way  before  the  three  regiments  and  the  masses 
of  the  enemy  were  steadily  driven  to  the  intrenched  camp.  At 
one  time,  Jenkins  was  confronted  by  a  larger  force  than  his  own, 
while  columns  of  at  ack  were  forming  on  each  flank.  He  rushed 
at  the  pas  de  charge  upon  those  in  front,  broke  them,  and  then  facing 
about,  attacked  in  flank  one  of  the  columns  flanking  him  and  routed 
it.  The  other  column  disappeared.  The  pursuit  ceased  with  dark- 
ness and  Heintzleman  boasted  in  his  report  that  the  Rebels  got  no 
further  than  the  woods  in  which  he  and  Keyes  had  gathered  together 
i, 800  men.  All  the  Federal  reports  speak  of  the  overwhelming 
numbers  of  the  Rebels  that  came  upon  them  and  lament  that  they 
had  but  11,500  men  to  meet  these  fearful  odds.  Those  words,  "  over- 
whelming numbers,"  applied  by  the  Federals  to  every  lost  field,  are 
most  expressive.  Johnny  had  a  way  of  multiplying  himself  when 
he  was  in  a  good  fighting  humor  and  then  he  appeared  very  nu- 
merous ;  and  when  he  had  anything  like  a  chance  he  was  a  very 
overwhelming  sort  of  fellow. 

All  day  Sunday  and  Sunday  night  General  J.  J.  Peck,  of  the  Fed- 
eral army,  had  strong  working  parties  strengthening  the  intrenched 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  9 

camp  and  making  it  more  secure  for  the  eleven  thousand  five  hundred 
men  who  had  sought  refuge  there.  The  success  of  the  first  day  was 
not  followed  up  on  the  second  day.  The  wounding  of  our  illustrious 
commander  and  other  causes  prevented  an  united  attack  upon  Sum- 
ner, which  must  have  crushed  him.  There  was  no  fighting  the  second 
day  to  speak  of  except  by  Pickett,  who  started  on  his  own  accord 
and  stopped  when  he  pleased,  or  after  he  had  driven  the  enemy  to 
the  brush,  as  he  expressed  it. 

Seven  Pines  was  not  altogether  a  barren  victory.  It  delayed 
McClellan  until  Jackson  was  brought  upon  his  flank.  It  gave  a 
splendid  exhibition  of  dash  and  courage,  and  that  had  a  most  inspirit- 
ing effect  upon  the  subsequent  campaign. 

Longstreet's  division  lost  five  hundred  men;  mine,  2,992,  out  of 
nine  thousand  men  engaged.  The  Sixth  Alabama  and  the  Fourth 
North  Carolina  lost  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  men  brought  into  action. 
Carter's  battery  lost  fifty-nine  per  cent. 

I  was  looking  at  the  battery  and  was  within  ten  yards  of  it,  when 
a  shell  exploded  just  before  the  muzzle  of  one  of  its  pieces,  and  all 
the  men  at  it  and  the  horses  at  the  limber  went  down  before  it. 
They  seemed  to  me  all  huddled  together  "in  one  red  burial 
blent."  An  officer  ran  up  and  pulled  out  one  live  man  from  the 
confused  pile.  Two  men  were  killed,  five  wounded,  and  two  horses 
were  killed  by  that  one  explosion.  The  wounded  appeared,  for 
the  time  being,  to  be  paralyzed,  as  only  one  was  pulled  out  at 
first.  This  was  the  most  destructive  shot  I  had  ever  seen  up  to  that 
time,  but  I  afterwards  saw  one  worse  at  Malvern  Hill  and  one  worse 
at  Sharpsburg.  It  was  the  enemy's  artillery  in  all  three  cases  that 
was  so  deadly.  This  havoc  in  Carter's  battery  was  in  the  pentago- 
nal redoubt  after  its  capture. 

Two-thirds  of  the  loss  in  Rodes's  brigade  was  after  Casey's  works 
had  been  taken  and  his  division  and  Couch's  had  been  driven  off. 
Berry's  brigade,  of  Kearney's  division,  had  been  turned  off  into  the 
slashes  when  Carter's  fire  had  made  a  direct  advance  impracticable. 
There  it  was  joined  by  one  of  Abercrombie's  regiments,  and  possibly 
by  rallied  fragments  of  the  defeated  divisions,  and  securely  sheltered 
behind  large  trees  and  heavy  fallen  timber,  they  kept  up  a  murderous 
fire  upon  Rodes's  men  in  the  open  field,  though  the  advance  of  An- 
derson and  Jenkins  had  cut  them  off  from  their  comrades.  These 
Federals  escaped  after  nightfall  by  taking  a  circuitous  path  through 
the  woods,  round  by  Anderson's  saw-mill. 

It  was  said  for  a  time  that  Casey  was  surprised  and   that  his  divi- 


10  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the   Banks. 

sion  was  defeated  by  a  sudden  rush  of  mine.  His  own  report  and 
the  reports  of  all  his  officers  show  that  there  was  nothing  of  the 
kind.  He  had  been  waiting  for  us  for  hours  with  his  men  and  guns 
in  position.  The  sudden  rush  began  at  one  o'clock,  and  Casey's 
works  were  captured  at  three  o'clock.  It  is  a  misnomer  to  call  a 
deadly  struggle  for  two  hours  a  sudden  rush.  It  is  unjust  to  my  di- 
vision, as  well  as  to  that  opposing  me,  to  say  that  Casey's  men  fought 
badly.  They  fought  better  than  the  reinforcements  sent  to  help  them. 
Fowler  Hamilton,  a  jolly  dragoon  officer,  was  asked  in  the  Mexican 
war  by  some  of  the  newly  arrived  troops,  "Are  the  Mexicans  brave  ?  " 
"  They  are  brave  enough  for  me,"  replied  he.  Casey's  men  were 
brave  enough  for  me,  and  he  himself  was  a  veteran  of  approved  cour- 
age and  conduct.  He  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  very  last  to 
abandon  his  earthworks. 

The  battle  of  Seven  Pines  is  a  fine  illustration  of  the  prowess  of 
untrained,  untutored  and  undisciplined  Southern  soldiers.  The 
great  battles  of  Europe,  in  which  veterans  were  engaged,  show 
a  loss  of  from  one-tenth  to  one-fourth  of  those  engaged.  At  Seven 
Pines  our  raw  troops  lost  one-third  of  their  number  without  flinching, 
moving  steadily  on  to  victory.  The  true  test  of  the  loss  in  battle  is 
the  number  of  casualties  before  the  shouts  of  triumph  rend  the  sky  ; 
for  it  has  often  happened  that  the  chief  loss  of  the  defeated  has  been 
from  the  murderous  fire  upon  their  disorganized,  unresisting,  and 
huddled  together  masses.  This  has  always  been  so  when  the  defeat 
has  been  the  result  of  a  flank  movement,  or  when  a  brilliant  cavalry 
charge  has  followed  up  the  rout. 

But  my  theme  deals  with  the  individual  private  in  the  ranks  and 
I  will  therefore  give  some  personal  anecdotes,  which  I  know  to  be 
true,  and  are  not  sensational  clap-trap  for  the  occasion.  After  the 
capture  of  Casey's  camp,  one  of  my  staff  went  with  a  litter  to 
remove  a  private  in  the  ranks,  whom  he  had  known  at  school. 
"No,"  said  the  wounded  man,  "let  me  alone,  Ratchford,  I  am 
mortally  wounded.  Carry  off  some  one  who  will  live  to  fight  for 
his  country  another  day."  Then  waving  off  his  comrade  with  a 
feeble  effort  of  his  poor,  dying  hand,  he  said,  "Good-bye,  Ratch- 
ford," while  the  white  lips  parted  in  a  farewell  smile. 

The  world  has  wondered  at  and  has  praised  for  two  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  years  the  grand  self-denial  of  the  dying  Sir  Philip  Sid- 
ney, who  gave  the  cup  of  water  intended  for  himself  to  the  wounded 
soldier  that  was  looking  longingly  at  it  and  said,  "  Friend,  thy  wants 
are  greater  than  mine."     The  world  has  done  well  to  preserve  this 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  11 

sublime  instance  of  unselfishness,  but  it  was  an  unselfishness  born  of 
sympathy  with  present  suffering  appealing-  to  him.  The  unselfish- 
ness of  the  Confederate  was  born  of  an  abstract  love  of  country 
looking  away  from  the  present  to  the  future  weal  of  our  dear  South- 
land. Who  does  not  see  that  the  self-denial  of  Private  Addison 
Jones,  of  the  Fifth  North  Carolina  regiment,  was  of  a  higher  and 
nobler  type  than  the  self-denial  of  the  chivalric  knight,  the  ideal  hero 
of  song  and  of  story  ? 

I  will  give  some  illustrations  of  an  authentic  character  of  the  cool- 
ness and  self-possession  of  the  private  in  the  ranks.  From  Colonel 
Sweitzer,  of  McClellan's  Staff,  I  got  under  a  flag  of  truce  an  anec- 
dote of  one  of  my  couriers  at  Seven  Pines.  In  carrying  an  order 
from  me  through  the  woods,  he  came  unexpectedly  upon  a  regiment, 
whose  unifoim  made  him  feel  blue.  However,  he  kept  up  a  bold 
front  and  asked:  "What  regiment  is  that?"  "Seventh  Massachu- 
setts," was  the  reply.  "All  right,"  said  the  courier,"  the  orders 
are  to  hold  your  position  at  all  hazards."  Then  he  turned  off  into 
the  woods  before  the  blue-coats  recovered  their  surprise  sufficiently 
to  give  a  harmless  volley  after  him.  I  may  not  have  right  the  name 
of  the  Federal  regiment,  but  by  inquiry  I  found  out  that  of  the 
courier ;  for,  modest  as  brave,  he  had  not  boasted  of  his  adventure. 
He  was  Hector  Bowden,  of  Loudoun  county,  Virginia.  Poor  fel- 
low !  his  was  a  sad  fate,  for  on  a  secret  visit  to  his  parents,  he  was 
murdered  by  the  Tories  of  Means's  gang. 

One  other  incident  of  the  same  kind.  After  the  defeat  of  Porter 
at  Cold  Harbor,  and  while  his  men  were  huddled  together  in  a  con- 
fused mass  in  the  woods  after  dark;  they  were  told  to  encourage  them, 
that  Richmond  had  been  captured  and  forthwith  began  to  cheer 
vociferously.  One  of  my  couriers  thinking  that  cheering  could  only 
come  from  victors,  rode  in  among  them  and  was  greeted  with  the 
question:  "  Have  we  got  Richmond  ?"  "Yes;"  answered  he,  "we 
have  got  Richmond,"  and  escaped  under  cover  of  their  shouts  and 
rejoicing.  That  courier  was  John  Chamblin  and  Richmond  has  got 
him,  if  he  has  not  got  Richmond. 

An  anecdote  showing  the  kind  of  wit,  which  characterized  the 
rollicking,  careless,  undisciplined  boys  of  1861,  may  not  be  out  of 
place  here.  The  story  has  been  often  told  and  many  regiments  have 
been  credited  with  it.  But  I  know  the  very  time  and  the  very  regi- 
ment to  which  the  anecdote  belongs.  At  Yorktown,  a  colonel  called 
out  his  regiment,  formed  it  in  line  and  began  to  scold  the  men  sav- 
agely for  some  breach  of  discipline.     In  the  midst  of  his  vituperation 


12  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

a  donkey  began  an  unmerciful  bray,  when  a  unanimous  shout  came 
up  from  the  impenitent  and  sorrowless  gray-coats,  "  Hold  on,  Colo- 
nel, one  at  a  time,  one  at  a  time."  There  is  a  delicacy  of  insinuation 
about  this  reply,  which  makes  it  unsurpassed  and  unsurpassable. 
No!  I  was  not  that  colonel,  though  I  could  tell  of  as  grievous  a  mis- 
hap to  myself  did  not  modesty  forbid.  I  will  tell  rather  of  some 
other  glorious  exploits  of  the  ragged  Rebels. 

At  Boonsboro,  or  South  Mountain,  my  division,  reduced  to  five 
thousand  men  by  battle,  disease,  hard  marching  and  want  of  shoes, 
was  called  upon  to  confront  McClellan's  army  and  to  hold  Turner's 
Gap  against  two  corps  of  that  army,  while  two  other  corps  were  in 
supporting  distance.  The  immense  wagon-yard  and  parks  of  reserve 
artillery  of  Lee's  whole  army  were  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  on 
the  west  side.  General  Lee  himself,  with  Longstreet's  command, 
was  at  Hagerstown,  thirteen  miles  off.  A  thin  curtain  of  men  ex- 
tending for  miles  along  the  crests  of  the  mountains  on  that  bright 
Sabbath  day  in  September,  was  all  we  had  to  check  a  vast,  perfectly 
organized  and  magnificently  equipped  army.  There  was  nothing 
else  to  save  our  trains  and  artillery;  there  was  nothing  else  to  pre- 
vent McClellan  from  cutting  in  between  Lee  and  Jackson;  there  was 
nothing  else  to  save  Longstreet's  corps  from  irretrievable  ruin.  That 
thin  curtain  once  broken,  the  enemy  would  have  full  possession  of 
all  our  supply  trains  and  supplies — ordnance,  commissary  and 
quartermaster  stores;  worse  still,  the  two  wings  of  Lee's  army  would 
have  been  riven  asunder,  never  to  be  reunited.  But  there  were 
giants  in  those  days  of  1862,  and  the  haggard,  weary,  worn-out  pri- 
vate in  the  ranks  was  a  hero  in  his  own  right,  and  capable  of  multi- 
plying himself  into  overwhelming  numbers.  From  9  A.  M.  till  3^2 
P.  M.  two  brigades  and  three  regiments  held  at  bay  Reno's  corps 
(said  officially  to  be  fifteen  thousand  strong),  which  attacked  on  our 
right,  moving  on  the  old  Braddock  road.  Then  three  very  small 
brigades  of  Longstreet's  command,  in  an  exhausted  condition  from 
their  hot  and  hurried  march,  came  to  our  assistance.  With  their  aid 
the  crests  of  the  mountain  and  the  road  were  held.  Reno  was  killed 
at  nightfall  in  Wise's  field,  where  the  fight  began  in  the  morning,  and 
within  fifty  yards  of  where  our  beloved  Garland  fell. 

But  on  our  left  a  commanding  hill  was  lost  before  sundown.  All 
the  fighting  before  five  o'clock  was  on  our  right,  and  the  first  rein- 
forcements from  Longstreet  were  turned  off  in  that  direction  where 
the  enemy  advanced  very  cautiously,  because  advancing  in  the  woods 
and  constantly  apprehensive  of  surprise  from  overwhelming  num- 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  13 

bers.  In  fact,  the  whole  battle  on  the  right  and  left  was  one  of  self- 
imposed  illusions  on  the  part  of  the  Federals.  McClellan  had  come 
into  possession  at  Frederick  of  a  copy  of  Lee's  order  directing  Jackson 
to  attack  Harpers  Ferry,  and  Longstreet  and  myself  to  proceed  to 
Boonsboro.  The  copy  found  was  the  one  directed  to  me,  though  I 
must  disclaim  here,  as  ever  before,  that  I  was  the  loser  of  it.  Accord- 
ing to  this  order,  Longstreet  was  at  Boonsboro,  and  not  Hagerstown, 
on  the  morning  of  the  14th,  and  McClellan's  people  believed  that  the 
whole  mountain  was  swarming  with  Rebels. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  map  of  this  battle,  prepared  by  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Topographical  Engineers  in  1872,  ten  years 
after  the  battle,  represents  ten  regiments  and  one  battalion  under 
Longstreet  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  on  the  north  side  of  turnpike 
and  east  side  of  the  mountain.  This,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th 
September,  before  the  fighting  began.  Longstreet  did  not  have  a 
man  there  at  any  time,  and  not  one  any  where  on  the  mountain  till 
3^  P.  M.  I  had  forty  men  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  on  north 
side  of  the  pike  alter  three  o'clock,  but  not  a  man  before  that  time. 
These  forty  men  were  under  command  of  Captain  R.  E.  Park,  of 
the  Twelfth  Alabama,  now  living  in  Macon,  Georgia.  To  have  pro- 
duced the  impression  that  there  were  ten  regiments  and  one  battalion 
here,  these  forty  men  must  have  been  uncommonly  frisky,  and  they 
must  have  multiplied  themselves  astonishingly,  but  unfortunately  for 
us,  not  in  overwhelming  numbers.  Burnside  tells  us  that  he  sent  two 
peremptory  orders  to  Fighting  Joe  Hooker  before  he  would  move 
forward  his  corps.  From  the  foot  of  the  mountain  Fighting  Joe 
watched  the  magnificent  advance  of  the  divisions  of  Meade  and 
Hatch,  followed  by  the  division  of  Ricketts.  The  previous  fighting 
had  drawn  all  our  men,  except  Rodes's  brigade,  to  the  south  side  of 
the  pike,  and  it  was  posted  on  the  commanding  point  of  which  I  have 
spoken.  Meade  took  his  division,  with  the  true  instincts  of  the  soldier, 
to  the  peak  held  by  Rodes  with  1,200  men.  So  resolutely  was  Meade 
met  that  he  sent  for  Duryea's  brigade,  of  Ricketts's  division.  Long- 
street's  broken  down  men  were  still  arriving,  and  four  hundred  under 
Colonel  Stevens  went  to  the  help  of  Rodes,  and  were  in  time  to  save 
him  from  being  surrounded,  but  their  combined  effort  could  not  save 
the  peak,  and  the  key  of  our  position  was  lost.  The  steady  advance 
of  the  other  Federal  divisions  drove  back  by  nightfall  the  remainder 
of  Longstreet' s  forces  on  the  left  of  the  pike  to  the  very  crest  of  the 
mountain.  But  the  pike  itself  was  still  held,  and  the  effort  of  the 
Federals  to  move  up  it  met  with  a  bloody  repulse.     So  the  retreat 


14  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

was  effected  without  difficulty  and  without  pursuit.  The  trains  and 
artiilerv  were  saved,  and  the  two  wings  of  Lee's  army  were  united 
at  Sharpsburg. 

There  had  been  much  straggling  of  Longstreet's  men  on  that  hot 
and  dusty  march  from  Hagerstown.  Garnett  estimates  that  in  march- 
ing and  countermarching,  his  brigade  passed  over  twenty  two  or 
twenty-three  miles.  The  reports  are  very  meagre  as  to  the  numbers 
that  were  brought  into  action  at  South  Mountain.  We  must  judge 
of  the  whole  from  the  few  authentic  estimates  that  are  given.  The 
Seventeenth  South  Carolina  reports  141  men  in  the  fight;  the  First 
South  Carolina  106  men;  the  Seventeenth  Virginia  55  officers  and 
men;  the  Nineteenth  Virginia  150  men;  the  Eighteenth  Virginia  120 
men ;  the  Fiftieth  Virginia  80  men  ;  the  Eighth  Virginia  34  men. 
Longstreet  admits  now  that  his  reinforcements  did  not  exceed  four 
thousand  men.  I  think  that  estimate  very  high.  But  admitting  this 
number,  and  that  it  was  equally  divided  on  the  two  sides  of  the  pike, 
then  Fighting  Joe  Hooker  was  contending  with  fifteen  thousand  men 
against  3,200  men,  more  than  half  of  them  in  a  broken  down  condi- 
tion. However,  his  powerful  field  glass  gave  Fighting  Joe  a  good 
view  of  the  battle,  and  he  felt  proud,  as  well  he  might,  of  the  steady 
and  gallant  advance  of  his  three  divisions.  He  says  in  his  report: 
"When  the  advantages  of  the  enemy's  position  are  considered  and 
his  preponderating  numbers,  the  forcing  of  the  passage  of  South 
Mountain  will  be  classed  among  the  most  brilliant  and  satisfactory 
achievements  of  this  army,  and  its  principal  glory  will  be  awarded  to 
the  First  Corps."  The  reader  will  please  remember  that  the  First 
Corps  was  "Fighting  Joe's"  corps.  However,  I  am  thankful  to 
Fighting  Joe  for  saying  preponderating  numbers,  and  not  over- 
whelming numbers. 

The  advantages  of  the  position  were  with  the  attack,  and  not  the 
defence,  as  any  practical  soldier  will  say,  who  will  carefully  examine 
the  ground. 

General  McClellan  said  officially:  "The  force  opposed  to  me  was 
D.  H.  Hill's  division  (15,000  men),  and  a  part,  if  not  the  whole  of 
Longstreet's,  and,  perhaps,  a  portion  of  Jackson's.  Probably  thirty- 
thousand  in  all."  It  is  always  safe  to  give  a  divisor  of  three  to  any 
estimate  made  by  General  McClellan  of  the  forces  of  his  enemy.  The 
Genefal  puts  his  attacking  force  in  the  two  corps  at  thirty  thousand. 
On  the  14th  September,  1862,  I  would  have  given  that  number  a 
multiplier  of  two.  An  attacking  column  is  apt  to  take  on  the  ap- 
pearance of  overwhelming  numbers. 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  15 

South  Mountain  was  heralded  abroad  by  our  antagonists  as  a 
great  viclory.  Favors,  of  that  sort  bad  been  few  and  far  between,  and 
this  seemed  to  call  for  special  gratulation  and  congratulation.  Mr. 
Lincoln  telegraphed  the  next  day  to  General  McClellan:  "God  bless 
you  and  all  with  you.  Destroy  the  Rebel  army,  if  possible. ' '  This  is 
a  model  dispatch,  and  is  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  St. 
James  in  the  tenth  verse  of  the  third  chapter  of  his  epistle,  which 
you  can  read  when  you  go  home. 

But  Sharpsburg  affords,  as  I  think,  the  best  illustration  of  the 
pluck,  dash  and  stubborn  fighting  of  the  privates  in  the  ranks.  Lee's 
army  was  never  so  small.  It  had  fought  McClellan  from  Richmond 
to  Harrison's  Landing  on  James  River.  It  had  fought  Pope  from  the 
Rappahannock  to  the  Potomac.  It  had  given  a  new  experience  to 
this  young  warrior,  who,  like  Lockinvar  had  come  gaily  out  of  the 
West  and  had  only  seen  the  backs  of  his  enemies,  and  had  there 
learned  to  scorn  all  thoughts  of  lines  of  retreat.  I  suspect  that  the 
young  man  did  not  pet  sonally  gain  any  more  knowledge  in  the  East 
than  he  had  done  in  the  West  about  the  faces  of  his  foes,  but  the 
people  he  had  about  him  did  see  those  faces,  and  before  he  vanished 
amid  the  storm  he  left  behind  him  this  military  maxim  "  for  a  line 
of  retreat,  the  short  cut  is  the  safe  cut." 

The  campaigns  against  McClellan  and  Pope  had  greatly  reduced 
Lee's  army.  The  order  issued  on  crossing  the  Potomac  excusing 
all  barefooted  men  from  marching  had  reduced  it  still  more.  So,  at 
Sharpsburg,  General  Lee  had  only  the  hardiest,  strongest  and  bravest 
of  his  Rebel  boys,  The  straggling  had  been  enormous.  The  chaff 
had  been  blown  off  and  only  the  sOund,  solid  wheat  had  been  left. 

General  McClellan  estimates  Lee's  army  at  Sharpsburg  at  97,445. 
These  numbers,  he  says,  he  got  from  General  Banks,  who  had  them 
from  "  prisoners,  deserters  and  spies."  The  precision  of  this  calcula- 
tion strikes  me  as  most  admirable,  97,445,  no  more,  no  less.  It  was 
not  a  guess.  Oh,  no  !  General  Lee's  guess  of  the  strength  of  his 
own  army  would  have  fallen  short  of  this  by  more  than  6o,ooo.  No, 
it  was  not  a  guess.  It  was  obtained  from  "  prisoners,  deserters  and 
spies."  These  generally  count  in  round  numbers,  but  on  this  occa- 
sion were  minutely  accurate.  Why  not  97,000  dry  so?  Why  not 
97,400?  Why  not  97,440?  Who  figured  out  the  last  five?  I 
surmise  that  "the  intelligent  contraband"  is  responsible  for  this  as- 
tonishing precision.  The  added  five  helped  to  swell  up  "  the  over- 
whelming numbers."    It  could  not,  would  not,  should  not  be  omitted. 

General  McClellan  puts   his  own  forces  ;  t  87,164.     He,  too,  must 


16  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

have  been  troubled  with  enormous  straggling-.  For  we  find  on  page 
98,  Volume  XIII,  Records  of  the  Rebellion,  a  statement  from  Quar- 
termaster-General Rufus  Ingalls,  that  he  had  furnished  transportation 
for  190,185  officers  and  men  of  McClellan's  army.  This  statement 
was  made  on  the  1st  day  of  October,  1862,  fourteen  days  after  the 
battle  of  Sharpsburg  and  the  wastage  of  that  battle  is  not  in  the 
estimate.  If  we  put  McClellan's  casualties  at  12,000  in  the  battle, 
he  must  have  had  202, 185  on  his  rolls  on  the  morning  of  Sharpsburg. 
For  the  same  record  shows  a  complaint  from  him  that  he  had  not  re- 
ceived any  reinforcements  after  the  battle.  If  then  there  were  but 
87,164  at  Sharpsburg,  there  were  105,021  elsewhere. 

I  have  always  contended  that  Genera]  Lee  had  less  than  27,000 
infantry  and  artillery  in  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  He  crossed  the 
Potomac  with  nine  divisions.  As  mine  had  not  been  in  the  Pope 
campaign  and  had  therefore  suffered  less  than  the  other  eight  from 
battle,  disease  and  fatigue,  I  supposed  it  to  be  one  of  the  very 
largest,  and  yet  it  had  but  little  over  3,000  men  in  it  at  Sharpsburg. 
As  nine  times  3,000  gives  27,000,  I  thought  that  27,000  was  the 
maximum  number  in  Lee's  army.  Dr.  Dabney.  a  very  careful 
statistician,  puts  Lee's  strength  at  33,000  including  the  cavalry. 
My  estimate,  which  I  have  had  to  reduce,  was  of  infantry  and 
artillery  alone. 

On  page  813  of  this  Volume  XIII,  I  find  Lee's  losses  in  killed  and 
wounded  in  the  Maryland  campaign  to  have  been  10,291,  of  which, 
my  division  is  credited  with  2,902  or  28.19  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 
It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  this  division  should  sustain  more 
than  one-fourth  of  the  entire  loss  of  the  army,  if  its  strength  was 
not  greater  than  one-ninth  of  the  whole.  It  is  true  that  the  loss  at 
South  Mountain  fell  largely  upon  my  division,  but  the  loss  there  was 
probably  as  great  in  prisoners  as  in  killed  and  wounded,  and  the 
10,291  loss  is  in  killed  and  wounded  only.  So  I  had  two  reasons 
.for  believing  that  my  division  was  the  largest  of  the  nine  at  Sharps- 
burg, and  that  therefore  Lee's  infantry  and  artillery  did  not  come  up 
to  27,000. 

But  the  result  can  be  reached  in  other  ways,  for  though  the  reports 
are  most  meagre  on  the  Southern  side,  we  still  have  data  enough  to 
make  an  estimate  different  from  that  of  the  prisoners,  deserters  and 
spies,  whom  General  Banks  saw. 

General  Lee  crossed  the  Potomac  with  nine  divisions,  forty  brigades, 
one  hundred  and  sixty-six  regiments  and  nine  battalions  of  infantry. 
Three  divisions  were  made  out  of  two,  so  that  at  Sharpsburg,  he  had 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  IV 

ten  divisions  without   having  more  brigades  and  regiments.     We 
have  reports  from  five  of  these  divisions: 

Early's  division,  4  brigades,  3,500  men;  D.  R.  Jones's  division, 
6  brigades,  2,430  men;  A.  P.  Hill's  division,  6  brigades,  3,524  men; 
McLaws's  division,  5  brigades,  2,832  men;  D.  H.  Hill's  division,  5 
brigades,  3,008  men;  total,  15,294  men. 

From  this  number  in  twenty-six  brigades  of  the  forty  in  Lee's 
army,  the  single  rule  of  three  will  give  us  23,523  men  as  Lee's 
strength  in  infantry  and  artillery  at  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  This 
is,  of  course,  on  the  supposition  that  the  ratio  in  the  twenty-six 
brigades  was  the  same  for  the  other  twenty-four.  Let  us  examine 
this  by  the  light  from  the  reports  of  the  brigades  themselves,  so  far 
as  they  are  given: 

Robert  Ransom's,  1,600;  Lawton's,  1,150;  Wofford's,  854;  Rodes's, 
800;  Barksdale,  800;  Walker,  700;  Trimble,  700;  Hays,  550;  Pfen- 
ning, 400;  Cobb,  250;  Stonewall,  250;  Evans,  209;  Kemper,  350; 
Garnett,  200;  total,  8,813. 

The  single  rule  of  three  gives  the  strength  of  the  forty  brigades  on 
the  ratio  of  these  fourteen,  to  be  25,180.  So  the  approximate  re- 
sults reached  from  the  reports  of  division  and  brigade  commanders 
differ  only  by  1,557  men. 

Now  let  us  see  what  estimate  we  can  get  from  the  reports  of  regi- 
mental commanders,  so  far  as  given  in  this  same  Volume  XIII.  We 
have: 

Eleventh  Georgia  regiment,  140;  Eighteenth  Georgia  regiment,  176; 
Fifty-third  Georgia  regiment,  276;  Fiftieth  Georgia  regiment,  100; 
Tenth  Georgia  regiment,  134;  Second  and  Twentieth  Georgia  regi- 
ments, 400;  First  Texas  regiment,  226;  Sixteenth  Mississippi  regiment, 
228;  First  South  Carolina  regiment,  106;  Seventh  South  Carolina  regi- 
ment, 268;  Seventeenth  South  Carolina  regiment,  59;  Hampton  Le- 
gion, 77;  Nineteenth  Virginia  regiment,  150;  Eighteenth  Virginia 
regiment,  120;  Fifty-sixth  Virginia  regiment,  80;  Seventeenth  Vir- 
ginia regiment,  55;  Eighth  Virginia  regiment,  34 — total,  2,629. 

General  Lee  had  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  regiments,  and  nine 
battalions  of  infantry  at  Sharpsburg,  say  in  round  numbers,  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  regiments  of  infantry.  From  the  ratio  of  the 
eighteen  regiments  just  given,  we  have  for  the  whole  one  hundred 
and  seventy  regiments,  24,829.  This  differs  from  the  estimate  by 
brigades  only  by  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  men.  If  we  put  our 
artillery  at  two  thousand,  we  will  have  Lee's  strength  at  Sharpsburg 
about  27,000.    This  estimate  has  been  arrived  at  by  four  independent 


18  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Banks. 

calculations — ist.  The  strength  and  loss  in  my  own  division;  2d. 
The  strength  of  the  five  divisions  reported;  3d.  The  strength  of 
fourteen  brigades,  including  largest  and  smallest ;  4th.  The  strength 
of  eighteen  regiments,  including  largest  and  smallest.  Taking  Gen- 
eral McClellan's  own  estimate  of  his  forces,  87,164,  the  boys  in  gray 
were  outnumbered  by  sixty  thousand.  Not  one  of  you  who  were  on 
that  terrible  field  will  think  even  now,  when  calmly  reviewing  the 
awful  scenes  of  that  bloody  day,  that  the  odds  against  us  was  less 
than  three  to  one.  Who  did  not  see  again  and  again  a  thin  Rebel 
line,  scarcely  a  skirmish  line,  attack  three  heavy  lines  of  battle  with 
the  utmost  confidence,  and  come  back  again  looking  puzzled  because 
the  other  fellows  did  not  run?  I  will  attempt  no  description  of  the 
wonderful  deeds  of  valor  performed  by  the  hungry,  ragged  and 
broken  down  Rebels.  Your  own  Patrick  Henry  could  not  do  justice 
to  it;  my  poor,  stammering  tongue  would  fall  infinitely  short  of  it.  I 
have  seen  a  plucky  little  bee-martin  hover  over,  swoop  down  upon 
and  peck  at  the  ferocious  hawk,  and  I  have  seen  the  grotesque 
movements  of  the  great  hulking  bird  to  avoid  the  tiny  beak  of  its 
tormentor.  These  old  eyes  of  mine  have  watched  that  battle  in  the 
air,  and  these  old  eyes  of  mine  looked  upon  the  battle  by  the  An- 
tietam. 

It  is  to  the  glory  of  Virginia  that  more  than  one  fourth  of  the  in- 
fantry regiments,  and  about  one-fourth  of  batteries  actually  engaged 
at  Sharpsburg  belonged  to  the  Old  Dominion.  The  best  handling  of 
artillery  which  I  saw  during  the  war  was  there,  always  excepting  the 
King  William  battery  at  Seven  Pines.  That  irrepressible  and 
ubiquitous  battery  was  at  Sharpsburg  also.  I  said  in  my  official  re- 
port, and  I  have  said  hundreds  of  time  since,  that  this  battery  con- 
tributed largely  to  the  defeat  of  Burnside's  attack  on  our  right  and 
rear.  *\ 

What  shall  I  say  of  that  wonderful  campaign  from  the  Wilderness 
to  Petersburg,  in  which  Lee's  army  killed  and  wounded  more  of  their 
♦memies  than  they  had  men  in  their  own  ranks  ?  What  shall  I  say  of  the 
ten  months  in  the  trenches,  under  a  constant  rain  of  shot  and  shell,  en- 
dured by  these  privates  in  the  ranks  half  fed,  half  clothed,  destitute  of 
all  the  usual  appliances  for  a  defensive  siege ;  stifled  at  one  time  with 
heat  and  at  another  frozen  with  cold;  fighting  against  ever- increasing 
odds — three  times,  five  times,  ten  times,  twenty  times  their  own  num- 
ber— confronting  in  their  want  and  misery  the  sleek  soldiers  of  the 
most  pampered  army  on  the  globe,  luxurious  in  its  comforts,  magni- 
ficent in  its  appointments,  and  invincible  in  its  serried  masses  ?    But 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  19 

those,  our  Confederates  in  the  ranks  fought  on,  suffered  on,  endured 
on,  with  no  expectation  of  promotion  or  preferment ;  with  no  hope  of 
ultimate  success,  each  knowing  surely  that  the  end  must  be,  at  best, 
life  and  unrecognized  prowess  ;  at  worst,  death  and  an  unknown  grave. 
We  "talk  of  the  sufferings  at  Valley  Forge,  and  the  American  people 
should  hold  them  in  everlasting  remembrance.  But  what  were  the  suf- 
ferings of  Washington's  men  in  comparison  with  the  sufferings  of 
Lee's  men  ?  Yes,  I  feel  that  it  is  presumptuous  in  me  to  try  to  eulogize 
with  words  these  martyrs  without  hope  of  reward  or  success — the 
Confederate  soldiers  in  the  ranks  ;  but  I  yield  to  no  man  in  my  love, 
respect,  and  reverence  for  them. 

And  what  shall  be  said  of  those  unselfish  patriots  who  were  true  to 
their  colors  to  the  last,  when  f>e  ravages  of  armies  had  desolated 
their  country,  and  the  torches  of  bummers  had  left  blackened  chimneys 
as  monuments  over  the  buried  treasures  of  a  husband's  and  father's 
love?  How  can  we  sufficiently  honor  these  men,  who,  knowing  that 
their  families,  without  food  and  without  shelter,  were  starving  to 
death  or  were  living  on  the  offal  of  the  enemy's  camps,  who,  know- 
ing even  this,  yet  still  answered  to  roll  call,  yet  still  filled  their  places 
in  the  ranks,  yet  still  faced  death  again  and  again,  putting  duty  to 
country  above  duty  to  wife  and  children?  Aye,  how  many  of  these 
poured  out  their  heart's  blood  in  that  last  despairing  struggle,  leaving 
those  they  loved  more  than  life  to  the  cold  charities  of  a  forgetful 
world  ?  Hard  must  be  the  heart  of  that  foeman  which  does  not  warm 
with  a  generous  glow  at  this  simple  tale  of  sublime  devotion  to 
principle.  And  how  should  this  story  affect  us,  their  comrades  in 
danger  and  their  partners  in  the  same  buoyant  hopes  and  the  same 
deep  despair?  May  my  arm  be  palsied  by  my  side  when  it  ceases  to 
hold  up  the  banner  inscribed  all  over  with  their  glorious  deeds.  May 
my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  when  it  ceases  to  pro- 
nounce the  praises  of  such  matchless  courage,  unrivalled  fortitude, 
and  unselfish  patriotism.  /V 

God  bless  the  privates  in  the  ranks  now  and  forevermore ! 

Having  an  unwavering  faith  in  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  mercy  of 
God,  I  bow  with  adoring  reverence  to  his  decree  which  destroyed  our 
hopes  of  Southern  independence.  I  would  not  reverse  His  decree  if  I 
could  do  so.  That  would  be  wicked  and  presumptuous.  All  honorable 
Confederates  render  the  truest  allegiance  to  the  obligations  imposed 
upom  them  by  the  surrender.  I  believe  that  the  most  uncompro- 
mising rebels,  yea,  the  bitterest  rebels,  if  you  choose  to  call  them  so, 
would  be  the  very  first  to  rally  round  the  old  flag  in  any  just  and  hon 


20  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

orable  war.  They  have  expressed  the  sincerest  sympathy  with  the 
sufferings  and  misfortunes  of  illustrious  foemen.  They  have  rejoiced 
at  the  brilliant  successes  of  many  of  their  late  antagonists,  and  they 
have  contributed  to  those  successes.  But  no  generous  conqueror 
wishes  the  conquered  to  forget  their  old  ties  and  their  old  loves.  "  No 
generous  conqueror  wishes  us  to  disparage  the  grand  heroism  and 
the  unparalleled  constancy  of  the  Confederates  in  the  ranks.  No 
generous  conqueror  expects  us  to  underrate  the  ability  of  our  great 
leaders  because  they  were  defeated,  and  unfairly  fail  to  take  into  con- 
sideration that  their  defeat  was  due  to  overwhelming  numbers.  Every 
schoolboy  knows  of  Thermopylae,  and  of  Leonidas,  defeated  and 
slain  ;  but  who  of  you  can  tell  the  name  of  the  victorious  Persian 
commander  of  the  Dori-Phori,  who  attacked  him  in  front?  Who  of 
you  remembers  the  name  of  the  commander  ot  the  so-called  Immortal 
Band  which,  having  gone  through  a  secret  defile,  attacked  him  suc- 
cessfully in  rear  ? 

The  historian  of  the  present  looks  only  at  victory  and  defeat.  The 
historian  of  the  past  looks  at  all  the  surroundings.  But  even  now  we 
of  the  present,  who  have  seen  the  great  movements  of  our  wonderful 
leaders,  can  look  at  those  surroundings.  Every  one  with  Southern 
blood  in  his  veins  places  in  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  great  com- 
manders, the  two  modest  men  who  sleep  so  quietly  and  so  unostenta- 
tiously at  Lexington,  Virginia.  Every  one  with  Southern  blood  in 
his  veins  cherishes  in  his  inmost  soul  the  memory  of  their  great  deeds 
as  a  precious  legacy  to  the  land  they  loved  so  well. 

General  Hill  was  vociferously  applauded  as  he  took  his  seat,  and 
was  warmly  congratulated  on  his  speech. 

General  Early  was  loudly  called  for,  but  excused  himself  from 
responding,  except  to  remind  his  friend,  General  Hill,  that  the  Fed- 
eral estimate  of  the  Confederate  strength  at  Sharpsburg  was  made 
by  General  Banks,  who  always  saw  the  "  rebels  "  through  a  pow- 
erful magnifying  glass  whenever  "  Stonewall"  Jackson  was  about. 

In  response  to  calls,  General  W.  B.  Taliaferro  made  a  brief  and 
stirring  speech,  which  was  loudly  applauded. 

The  officers  of  last  year  insisted  upon  a  change,  and  a  committee 
consisting  of  Captain  C.  A.  Bohannon,  General  William  McComb, 
and  N.  V.  Randolph  reported  the  following  who  were  unanimously 
elected  : 

For  President:  Major- General  William  B.  Taliaferro. 

Vice-Presidents  :    Major-General  William  Smith,  Colonel  Char/es 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  21 

Marshall,  Colonel  James  H.  Skinner,  Captain  P.  W.  McKinney, 
Brigadier-General  Thomas  T.  Munford. 

Executive  Committee :  Colonel  William  H.  Palmer,  Colonel 
Archer  Anderson,  Sergeant  George  L.  Christian,  Major  T.  A. 
Brander,  Sergeant  John  S.  Ellett. 

Treasurer  :  Private  R.  S.  Bosher. 

Secretary  :  Private  Carlton  McCarthy. 

General  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  the  retiring  president,  was  heartily  thanked 
for  the  ability  with  which  he  had  presided  and  the  energy  he  had 
displayed  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Association. 

On  motion  of  General  Early.  Misses  Mary  and  Mildred  Lee,  Mrs. 
Thomas  J.  Jackson  and  her  daughter,  and  Mrs.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  and 
her  daughter  were  unanimously  and  enthusiastically  elected  honorary 
members  of  the  Association,  and  the  Secretary  was  directed  to  send 
them  badges. 

THE  BANQUET. 

After  the  exercises  in  the  hall  the  Association  and  the  invited 
guests  repaired  to  Saenger  Hall,  where  an  elegant  banquet  was 
spread  and  the  good  things  heartily  enjoyed. 

General  Taliaferro  presided,  and  Judge  George  L.  Christian  acted 
as  toast-master  and  read  the  toasts.  The  regular  toasts  and  the  res- 
pondents were  as  follows  : 


The  Infantry  : 


If  ever  a  band  of  warriors  won 
A  paean  for  deeds  of  valor  clone, 
They  deserve,  indeed,  the  glorious  meed 
And  the  proud  triumphal  hymn. 


General  William  McComb. 

The  Cavalry: 

As  went  the  knight  with  sword  and  shield 
To  tournay  or  to  battle-field, 
They  offered  at  their  country's  call 
Their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  all. 

General  T.  T.  Munford. 

The  Artillery :  The  voice  from  the  mouths  of  their  pieces   sent 
dismay  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy. 

Judge  William  I.  Clopton. 


22  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

The  Staff  of  Our  Armies  :  The  nerves  which  contributed  to  the 
genius  of  our  great  commanders,  and  through  which  their  inspira- 
tion was  conducted  to  their  troops. 

Colonel  Archer  Anderson. 

The  Armies  of  the  West :  The  heroes  of  Corinth,  Chickamauga, 
and  Mobile  are  worthy  comrades  of  those  of  Manassas,  Gettysburg, 
and  the  Wilderness,   and  will  ever  greet  each   other  as  brethren. 

General  D.  H.  Maury. 

The  Women  of  the  South  : 

"  Land  of  heroes,  your  endurance  through  the  strife  transcendent  shines  ; 
Born  of  sunlight,  'mid  the  tempest  stood  ye  hrm  as  mountain  pines." 

Dr.  Thomas  J.  Moore. 

The  Dead  : 

"  Their  dust  sleeps  well  in  the  land  of  their  choice, 
Their  names  in  song  and  story  ; 
And  fame  shall  shout  with  immortal  voice, 
Dead  on  the  field  of  glory." 

Hon.  D.  B.  Lucas,  of  Jefferson  county,  West  Virginia,  whose 
exquisite  poem,  "The  Land  Where  we  were  Dreaming,"  has 
touched  so  many  hearts,  responded  to  the  last  toast  in  a  speech 
which  elicited  loud  applause.  There  has  been  so  strong  a  demand 
for  its  publication  that  we  are  glad  to  give  it  in  full. 

SPEECH    OF    HON.    D.    B.    LUCAS. 

In  responding  to  the  sentiment  now  proposed  to  the  memory  of 
the  dead  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  I  feel  and  appreciate 
both  the  difficulty  and  the  sacred  character  of  the  melancholy  duty 
which  has  been  assigned  me. 

What  can  I  say  which  shall  exaggerate  the  debt  of  gratitude  or 
lighten  the  burden  of  regret  which  we  owe  to  the  brave  soldiers  who, 
by  their  courage,  illumined  the  most  brilliant  page  of  military  his- 
tory, and  by  their  unselfish  devotion  sanctified  the  sternest  lessons 
of  civil  and  institutional  disaster  ? 

The  formation  of  this  Association  was  but  the  outgrowth  of  a  sense 
of  duty  to  the  sentiments  which  cluster  around  our  dead. 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  23 

To  preserve  in  some  permanent  form  the  original  and  authentic 
evidence  of  what  these  men  achieved  was  a  high  and  sacred  duty 
which  we  owed  not  to  them  only,  but  to  ourselves  and  to  our 
children. 

For  no  more  melancholy  sight  can  meet  the  eye  of  the  patriot  than 
to  see  a  teacher  in  our  public  schools  engaged  in  teaching  the  child- 
ren of  these  dumb  and  silent  martyrs  that  their  fathers  died  under 
some  manner  of  cloud,  or  that  they  needed  some  sort  of  pardon, 
other  than  the  free  grace  of  the  everlasting  God  whom  they  served. 
Neither  can  there  be  any  moral  or  national  necessity  that  the  first 
axiom  of  mathematics,  which  is  that  the  sum  of  all  the  parts  is  only 
equal  to,  and  cannot  exceed,  the  whole,  should  be  untaught  in  the 
vain  effort  to  prove  that  when  an  aggregate  of  twenty- seven  hundred 
thousand  Federal  soldiers  engaged  six  hundred  thousand  Confed- 
erates, the  latter  in  every  separate  engagement,  from  Manassas  to 
the  Wilderness,  outnumbered  their  Federal  antagonists. 

No;  thank  God,  the  first  duty  which  we  owe  to  these  dead  heroes 
is  the  same  which  we  owe  to  truth.  The  simplest  form  of  annals, 
unadorned  by  political  disquisition,  as  unwarped  as  mathematics  and 
impartial  as  a  sun-dial,  would  embody  all  that  we  should  need  to 
excite  our  just  pride  in  their  almost  superhuman  achievements;  all 
that  our  children  need  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  patriotism  or  the 
love  of  glory.  They  do  not  need  any  depreciation  of  their  adver- 
saries, nor,  as  Chief-Justice  Chase  expressed  it,  any  detraction  from 
"the  heroism  of  our  countrymen  who  fell  upon  the  other  side." 
This  unreasonable,  not  to  say  unholy  sentiment,  that  to  do  justice  to 
one  side  implies  detraction  from  the  other,  should  be  given  over  to 
the  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals  with  which  we  amuse  our- 
selves in  political  harangues  or  popular  assemblies.  But  here,  as  it 
were  in  the  presence  of  our  dead,  we  can  do  most  honor  to  them, 
while  at  the  same  time  we  do  full  justice  to  the  motives  and  courage 
of  those  who  confronted  them. 

We  can  divest  ourselves  of  every  suspicion  of  clap-trap,  and,  stand- 
ing face  to  face  with  our  dead,  say,  in  all  clearness  of  conscience,  that 
having  accepted  the  umpirage  of  the  sword  we  have  also  accepted 
its  award,  and  mean  to  abide  by  it.  This  much  for  the  outcome  or 
actual  result. 

But  may  God  do  so  to  us  and  more,  if  ever  we  fail  when  occasion 
demands  the  expression  of  conviction,  to  assert  the  simple  truth,  that 
these  dear,  darling  dead  were  right ;  that  on  the  plane  of  clear  rea- 


24  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

son,  they  were  most  sternly  logical ;  that  as  patriots,  they  had  no 
superiors ;  and  as  soldiers,  they  have  had  no  equals. 

This  is  our  conviction,  that  these  men  ventured  all  for  self-govern- 
ment and  died  in  a  righteous  and  holy  cause. 

Now,  as  for  their  achievements.  They  were  matched  against  as 
brave  soldiers  as  the  world  had  produced,  in  love  with  a  sentiment — 
the  Union.  They  were  outnumbered  in  the  aggregate  as  six  to 
twenty  seven,  or  more  than  four  to  one.  In  population,  their  section 
(excluding  slaves)  was  as  seven  to  twenty  two,  or  less  than  one  to 
three.  And  yet  they  carried  on  the  points  of  their  bayonets  their 
cause  for  four  long  years,  and  in  the  end  yielded  to  famine  and  an 
exhausted  treasury,  rather  than  to  military  necessity. 

We  cannot  evade  history.  We  may  for  a  time  startle  her  from  her 
propriety,  but  she  will  in  the  end  regain  her  equipoise. 

I  have  already  remarked  upon  the  absurd  paradox  presented  in 
our  school  histories,  namely,  that  while  in  the  aggregate  the  Federal 
army  numbered  over  twenty-seven  hundred  thousand  and  the  Con- 
federate but  a  little  over  six  hundred  thousand,  yet,  in  the  separate 
decisive  battles  of  the  war,  the  forces  engaged  were  nearly  equal. 
What  surpassing  generalship !  What  matchless  strategic  skill, 
which,  with  an  average  disparity  of  more  than  four  to  one,  yet, 
on  every  critical  plain,  could  oppose  an  equal  number  to  their  adver- 
saries !  But  we  can  not  suffer  the  prowess  of  these  private  soldiers, 
so  justly  extolled  to-night  by  one  of  their  most  brilliant  captains,  to 
be  disparaged,  even  to  increase  the  fame  of  their  immortal  leaders. 
Let  the  plain  story  be  told,  though  our  Peter  Parley  histories  and 
Mother  Goose  biographies  should  have  to  be  relegated  to  the  regions 
of  romance  where  they  rightfully  belong.  Let  us  frankly  acknowl- 
edge that  from  first  to  last,  on  every  important  field  from  Manassas 
to  Appomattox,  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  composed  of  brave, 
enthusiastic,  and  well-equipped  soldiers,  outnumbered  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  by  an  average  of  more  than  two  to  one  ;  that  for 
the  first  two  years,  the  latter  were  mainly  armed  and  clothed  by  cap- 
tures from  the  opposing  forces ;  that  they  never  hesitated  when 
ordered  to  attack  a  superior  force  and  seldom  failed  to  gain  the 
advantage  ;  that  they  took  more  prisoners  than  they  lost  by  capture  ; 
that  they  killed  more  than  they  lost  in  battle,  and  that  in  one 
important  campaign  they  destroyed  more  of  the  enemy  by  ten 
thousand  than  the  actual  count  of  their  own  whole  army. 

I  have  compiled  a  table  founded  on  the  most  reliable  authorities 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 


25 


exhibiting  the  comparative  numbers  and  losses  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  and  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  the  more  important 
engagements  of  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  : 


Richmond — Seven  Days 

Second  Manassas 

Sharpsburg 

Fredericksburg 

Chancellorsville 

Gettysburg 

Wilderness 

Surrender 


Federals. 


Nos. 


105,000 
60,000 
87,000 
120,000 
133,000 
101,000 
140,000 
155,000 


Loss, 


30,000 
30,000 
12,649 
12  321 

i7,i97 
24,000 
60,000 


Confederates. 


Nos. 

Loss. 

80,000 

19,543 

49,000 

9,112 

33,000 

8,790 

75,000 

4,3oi 

57,000 

10,280 

59,000 

19,000 

64,000 

18,000 

7,800 

These  figures  are  monumental.  They  constitute  a  monument  to 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  as  much  superior  to  brass  or  stone 
as  spirit  is  to  matter  or  reason  is  to  sense. 

Yet,  while  these  figures  are  conceded,  their  significance  is  met  and 
their  force  evaded  by  an  assumption  that  these  soldiers  lacked  endu- 
rance and  fortitude  and  a  contrast  is  attempted  to  be  drawn  between 
their  brilliant  dash  and  the  more  steady  and  enduring  valor  of  the 
Northern  troops. 

If  this  charge — a  lack  of  fortitude — could  be  sustained,  it  would 
detract  much  from  the  character  of  the  Southern  soldier,  for,  as 
Napoleon  said :  "  The  first  qualification  of  a  soldier  is  fortitude 
under  fatigue  and  privation  ;  courage  is  only  the  second." 

Let  us  submit  this  question  to  the  test  of  admitted  facts,  and  see  if 
the  charge  be  just.  Let  us  take  the  matter  of  equipment.  Let  us 
compare  that  of  General  McClellan  before  Richmond  with  that  of 
General  Johnston  in  the  Summer  of  1862.  The  Prince  de  Joinville, 
who  accompanied  McClellan,  says  that  "  But  for  the  lack  of  women, 
their  army  might  have  been  mistaken  for  an  armed  emigration, 
rather  than  a  march  of  soldiers,"  so  thorough  and  elaborate  was  the 
equipment.     The  Confederates,  on  the  other  hand,  had  soiled  and 


26  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Banks. 

ragged  uniforms,  worn-out  shoes,  dilapidated  tents,  old-fashioned 
arms,  and  scanty  fare.  Yet  this  same  ragged,  illy-equipped  army, 
without  any  new  sources  of  supply  or  recruitment  held  on  for  two 
years  longer,  defeating  Pope  at  Cedar  Mountain  and  Second  Manas- 
sas, driving  back  Burnside  at  Fredericksburg,  routing  Hooker  at 
Chancellorsville,  and,  finally,  when  reduced  to  fifty-nine  thousand, 
hurling  themselves  with  incredible  valor  against  a  newly  equipped 
army  of  one  hundred  and  one  thousand  on  the  heights  of  Gettysburg. 
If  these  achievements  did  not  require  and  avouch  the  power  to  bear 
fatigue  and  privation,  then  must  we  acknowledge  that  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  lacked  fortitude  and  was  not  equal  to  the  Napo- 
leonic test  already  quoted.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  these  undisputed 
facts  are  to  be  given  their  full  force  and  significance,  let  us  do  the 
Great  Army  justice  and  say  that  they  lacked  nothing  which  is  re- 
quisite to  the  true  soldier  :  discipline,  enthusiasm,  love  of  country, 
courage,  and  fortitude  under  privation  in  the  highest  degree  were  all 
theirs. 

Take  again  the  career  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  command  in  the 
same  summer  of  1862,  as  an  illustration  of  the  endurance  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  encountering  fatigue.  Let  us  com- 
mence at  Kernstown.  At  this  point  Jackson  attacked  seven  thousand 
with  twenty-seven  hundred,  and  desired  to  court-martial  General 
Garnett,  who  held  the  center,  for  retreating  before  four  times  his 
number,  after  his  ammunition  was  exhausted. 

Afterwards,  in  the  next  forty  days,  with  an  average  force  of  fifteen 
thousand  men,  he  amused  himself  (as  the  Prince  de  Joinville  ex- 
presses it)  by  baffling  and  in  four  pitched  battles,  defeating  as  many 
successive  generals;  he  marched  his  troops  four  hundred  miles,  cap- 
tured thirty-five  hundred  prisoners  of  war,  together  with  vast  mili- 
tary stores  and  supplies,  and  kept  employed  against  him,  paralyzing 
in  and  around  Washington,  eighty  thousand  men. 

In  advance  and  retreat  he  double-quicked  the  soldiers  of  the 
Shenandoah  Valley  through  their  native  villages,  amid  waving  of 
handkerchiefs  and  salutations  of  wives,  children,  sisters,  and  sweet- 
hearts without  breaking  ranks. 

These  men  were  called  "Jackson's  foot-cavalry"  because  one 
soldier  covered  as  much  ground  and  bore  as  much  fatigue  as  is  ordi- 
narily demanded  of  a  soldier  and  a  horse.  They  were  the  Centaurs 
of  modern  warfare. 

After  the  campaign  in  the  Valley  these  same  men  left  Mount 
Meridian,  which  is  not  far  from  Staunton,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1862, 


The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks.  27 

and  marched  direct  to  Richmond,  engaging  in  the  battle  at  Mechan- 
icsville  on  the  26th,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  and 
without  taking  time  to  rest  or  recruit,  except  on  the  intervening 
Sabbath,  which  was  spent  in  rest  and  worship. 

But  why  do  I  recount  these  instances  of  fortitude  and  endurance 
on  the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  before  men,  many  of 
whom  were  participants  in  these  heroic  struggles,  and  all  of  whom 
are  familiar  with  their  history  ? 

Not  only  did  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  excel  in  that  highest 
attribute  of  a  soldier,  fortitude,  but  their  love  of  country  was  unsur- 
passed. For  the  last  two  years  of  the  war  they  served,  practically, 
without  pay.  Nominally  the  private  soldier  received  thirteen  dollars 
per  month,  but  it  was  paid  in  Confederate  currency.  I  have  made  a 
careful  estimate  of  the  value  of  these  wages,  reduced  to  the  gold 
standard  for  the  forty- eight  months  of  the  war,  and  I  find  that  the 
average  pay  of  the  Confederate  soldier,  reduced  to  gold,  was  less  than 
thirty-five  cents  per  month. 

No  hirelings  these,  but  patriots,  whose  services  were  inspired  only 
by  a  sense  of  duty,  and  rewarded  only  by  the  gratitude  of  their  coun- 
trymen. 

Of  the  military  leaders,  our  dead  officers  who  commanded  these 
men,  I  cannot  consume  your  time  to  speak.  They  came  from  every 
Southern  State,  and  now  sleep  in  the  bosom  of  Virginia — Lee  and 
Jackson,  and  Bee,  and  Pelham,  and  Winder,  and  Whiting,  and  Wheat, 
and  many  others  now  imperishably  linked  in  fame  with  the  story  of 
the  Great  Struggle. 

Napoleon,  though  great  in  victory,  did  not  bear  irredeemable  de- 
feat with  the  fortitude  which  the  world  had  a  right  to  expect ;  while 
Washington,  being  victorious,  left  his  composure  in  final  disaster  only 
to  be  conjectured  from  his  magnanimity  in  ultimate  success.  But 
General  Lee  demonstrated  by  the  reluctance  with  which  he  took  up 
arms,  and  the  brilliancy  with  which  he  bore  them  ;  by  his  moderation 
in  victory  and  the  unsurpassed  nobility  of  his  bearing  in  defeat;  by 
his  great  achievements  in  war  and  his  dignified  devotion  to  the  most 
ennobling  arts  of  peace,  that  he  possessed  all  the  rare  elements  of 
moral  and  intellectual  greatness,  which,  by  their  combination,  con- 
spire to  form  the  noblest  specimens  of  our  race — 

"A  combination  and  a  form  indeed, 
Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal, 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man  !  " 


28  The  Confederate  Soldier  in  the  Ranks. 

When  General  Lee  announced  to  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
the  death  of  General  Jackson,  he  hit  upon  the  two  great  qualities  of 
the  soldier  which  distinguished,  with  most  peculiar  emphasis,  the 
dead  captain — courage  and  confidence  in  God.  "We  feel,"  said 
General  Lee,  "  that  his  spirit  still  lives,  and  will  inspire  the  whole 
army  with  his  indomitable  courage  and  unshaken  confidence  in  God, 
as  our  hope  and  strength." 

"  A  great  captain,"  said  Napoleon,  "supplies  all  deficiencies  by 
his  courage."  It  was  this  courageous  self-confidence,  inspired  by  a 
higher  confidence  in  God,  which  distinguished  General  Jackson. 

But  he  was  not  more  self-confident  than  modest.  It  is  related  that 
when  General  Lee's  note  of  condolence,  telling  him  that  for  the  good 
of  the  country  he  had  preferred  being  wounded  himself  was  read  to 
him,  he  exclaimed,  "  Better  ten  Jacksons  than  one  Lee!" 

Thus  did  these  two  great  compeers  vie  in  modesty,  and  unselfish 
admiration,  each  of  the  other.  Two  twin  giants,  to  whom  Virginia, 
a  second  Ilia,  pregnant  by  Mars,  had  given  birth;  and  who,  though 
they  failed  to  found  an  Empire,  as  did  Romulus  and  Remus,  will  yet 
shine  like  Castor  and  Pollux  as  bright  constellations  in  the  firma- 
ment of  history;  but  with  this  difference,  that  while  the  Sons  of  Ledd 
illumine  the  sky  but  one  at  a  time,  our  Twins,  sons  of  Virginia,  trans- 
fixed, shining  together,  shall  cosparkle  in  one  equal  splendor  through- 
out all  coming  ages.  These  dead — these  darling  dead — they  have 
not  died  in  vain! 

Not  in  vain,  my  countrymen,  their  courage  and  achievement;  not 
in  vain  their  highest  virtue  of  fatigue-enduring  fortitude;  not  in  vain 
their  unbought  and  unpaid  services  in  the  field;  not  in  vain  did  the 
fathers  die  unbountied,  as  their  children  live  unpensioned;  not  in  vain 
did  they  walk  through  the  tragedy  of  war,  or  do  they  now  lie  down 
in  the  dull  pantomine  of  death;  their  deeds  were  not  in  vain,  be- 
cause we  who  survive  shall  teach  them  to  our  children,  and  thus  pre- 
serve a  heroic  race  of  men  capable  of  such  self  sacrifices  as  these 
men  made,  and  equal  to  such  heroism  as  may  serve,  when  lapsed 
from  virtue,  "to  recall  us  to  ourselves,  and  join  us  to  the  eternal 
gods!" 


PUBLICATIONS 


OF  THE 


Association  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 

For  Sale  at  the  Annexed  Prices. 


Association  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  Badges,  Enamel  and 

Gilt,  Ribbon,  &c,        -  -  -  -  -  $200 

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The  Memorial  Volume  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia, 
containing  the  Annual  Addresses,  as  follows  : 

1873.  Col.  C.  S.  Venable,  Wilderness  to  Cold  Harbor. 

1874.  Col.  Charles   Marshall,  on  the  Strategic  Value  of  Rich- 

mond. 

1875.  Major  John  W.  Daniel,  on  Gettysburg. 

1876.  Capt,  W.  Gordon  McCabe,  on  the  "  Defence  of  Peters- 

burg." 

1877.  Private  Leigh  Robinson,  on  "  The  Wilderness." 

1878.  Col.  William  Allan,  on  Jackson's  Valley  Campaign, 

1879.  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  on  Chancellorsville. 

Price  of  the  Volume,  -  -  -  2  00 

Also  the  Adresses  of — 
1 88 1.  Col.  Archer  Anderson,  on  "  The  Campaign  and  Battle 

of  Ghickamauga,"  ....  #^0 

1883.  Hon.  Alfred  M.  Scales,  on  The  Battle  of  Fredericksburg,        .25 
1885.  General  Bradley  T.  Johnson,   on  the  First  Maryland 

Campaign,  -  -  -  -  -  .50 

1885.  General  D.  H.  Hill,  on  the  Confederate  Soldier  in  the 

Ranks,       -  -  -  .50 

The  Addresses  of  1877,  by  Robinson,  and  1878,  by  Col.  Allan, 
may  also  be  had  separately  at  50  cents  each.     Address  : 

CARLTON  MCCARTHY,  See'y, 

511  N.  Fifth  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


THE 


LIFE  AND  CAMPAIGNS 


Major-Generil  J.  E.  B.  Stuart, 

Commander  of  the  Cavalry  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 


H.  B.  McCLELLAN,  A.  M., 

Late  Major,  A.  A.  General  and  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Cavalry  Corps, 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 


The  work  will  be  an  8vo  volume  of  about  400  pages,  with  seven 
maps,  prepared  especially  for  it.     Bound  in  cloth. 

The  book  will  be  ready  in  November,  or  sooner.     Mailed  free  on 
receipt  of  $3.00  in  advance. 

A  few  copies  can  be  had  bound   handsomely  in  half  calf  or  half 
Morocco  at  $5.50.     Address 

carlton  McCarthy, 

511  N.  Fifth  St.,  Richmond,  Va. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


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